Vegetables are an integral component of a balanced diet, providing essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals required to sustain good health. Microgreens are making their way up from the soil to the plates of diners everywhere. But what differentiates microgreens from other vegetables? This is a guide written to explore the differences between regular vegetables and microgreens, the nutritional value found in microgreens, how to grow microgreens, how to use them, and finally how to identify them.
The term ‘vegetable’ generally refers to plants that are grown and harvested at a mature growth stage for eating. They are usually cultivated in fields, gardens, or greenhouses, and can be eaten raw, cooked, or converted into food products. Common examples of vegetables are leafy greens, root vegetables, beans, cruciferous vegetables and fruit from plants like tomatoes and bell peppers.
- Time to Grow: Scheduled weeks or months until full maturity
- Type: Fully grown plant with mature leaves, stem, root and fruit.
- Flavor Characteristics: Consistent with their texture, flavours can vary from mild to strong.
- Nutrition Facts: Rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants important for health.
- Uses: Eaten in salads, soups, stir-fries, or as stand-alone dishes.
This being said regular veggies are at the center of our diet and have been the base of our cultivation, for food security and nutrition for centuries.
Microgreens are edible plants eaten at the cotyledon stage in the lifecycle, generally 7-21 days post germination. They are now in between sprouts and baby greens and are an extremely nutritious and tasty addition to any meal. Some common types of microgreens are radish, sunflower, pea shoots, basil, cilantro, and broccoli.
- Time to Harvest: Ready in 1-3 weeks from planting.
- Size: Small, typically 1-3 inches tall.
- Flavor: Bold, concentrated flavors with a melting texture.
- Nutritional Profile: They contain higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than older plants.
- Uses: Garnishes, salads, sandwiches, smoothies, gourmet dishes.
Microgreens are typically grown in soil or hydroponic systems and take up very little space, which also makes them perfect for urban farming and home gardening.
Growth Stage and Time
- Regular Marshall: grown to full maturity over weeks or months
- Microgreens: Cut from young plant sprouts 7-21 days after germination.
Size and Appearance
- Regular Vegetables: These are mature plants with big leaves, stems, and sometimes fruits.
- Microgreens: Tiny, delicate greens with tender stems and the first set of true leaves (cotyledons).
Nutritional Value
- Regular Vegetables: Loading of Fiber and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, but nutrient density may be reduced as the plant grows.
- Microgreens: Have higher concentrations of nutrients, sometimes 40 times more than their mature form.
Taste and Texture
- Regular Vegetables: can taste mild, sweet, a bit bitter, grassy, earthy, have different textures.
- Microgreens: Have a bolder, concentrated flavor and a tender, crunchy texture.
Growing Conditions
- Normal Vegetables: They need bigger fields (a farm or a garden) and take a long time to grow.
- Microgreens: Grown indoors in trays, they can be grown in minimal space, soil, or even hydroponics.
Harvesting Method
- Standard Vegetables: Harvested once the plant has matured.
- Microgreens: When the first true leaves have developed, cut at the base.
Culinary Uses
- Regular Vegetables: The main part of dishes, soups, stir fries and salad.
- Microgreens: Used as garnishes in smoothies, in sandwiches, in gourmet recipes.
As microgreens are delicate, small in nature, and harvested at an early stage, they possess unique characteristics that set them apart from sprouts and mature greens. Here’s how to spot them:
- Size: Microgreens are typically 1-3 inches tall and are harvested a week or so after the first set of true leaves develop.
- Leaves and Stem: They are having their first cotyledon leaves, and some may even have tiny mature leaves.
- Stems are pliable, delicate and soft: Unlike sprouts, microgreens grow above the soil, and they’re harvested by cutting, not uprooting.
- Growth Medium: Normally grown in shallow trays with soil, cocopeat, or hydroponic mediums. Microgreens, unlike sprouts, which grow in water and are eaten whole (including roots), are cut at the base.
- Flavor and Aroma: Microgreens can have a powerful, assertive flavor, depending on the variety, that runs from peppery (radish, mustard) to sweet (pea shoots) and herbaceous (basil, cilantro).
- Color and Texture: Green, purple or red depending on the plant type. Soft but crisp texture with a clean, woody aroma.
- More Nutrients: Higher amounts of vitamins and minerals.
- Grows Faster: Can be harvested in a few weeks time
- Hard to Kill: Insensitive to your watering schedule.
- It has a range of culinary uses, adding flavor, texture, and presentation to meals
Microgreens and regular vegetables serve their unique purposes in both the culinary and health world. Microgreens are a delicious, nutritious option to elevate your meals when regular vegetables aren’t as agile, providing valuable dietary fiber and energy to your diet for hours. Knowing the differences can help you choose what you want to include in your diet. Whether growing microgreens for salads or relying on traditional vegetables for staple meals, both have a huge place in a healthy, balanced diet.